


A romance for the ages

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 16:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7180472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connix has a crush on Rey but doesn't think she has a chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A romance for the ages

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt (http://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/4613.html?thread=10683141#cmt10683141) at the TFA Kink Meme
> 
> "Connix has a crush on Rey but doesn't think she has a chance. At some point Rey kindly proves her wrong."

Throughout the briefing, Kaydel can't help but glance a few times at Rey. The young Jedi is only a few feet away from her, and like always, her presence is distracting. She's ready for take off as soon as the meeting is over, and has traded her light custom grey Resistance uniform for a medium weight dark green tactical armor. Strapped to her back is a heavy automatic blaster rifle. She would blend in with the other members of the Pathfinder corps, if not for the lightsaber on her left hip. The outfit, a far call from the collective image of the pacifist Jedi wearing robes, gives her a martial charm. Kaydel only has to close her eyes to imagine her wrecking havoc among the ranks of the First Order, with the same grace and efficiency that Kaydel has seen her do anything else.

Rey's eyes are on General Organa, her attention entirely on the last briefing. There's a grave beauty in her traits, that makes Kaydel's heart race in her chest. Rey reminds her of the legendary warrior queens of old, when the planets hadn't united into a Republic yet. Such queens had to both be strong in body and mind, to lead their armies against invaders or to defend their interests on distant worlds. Rey's got that physical strenght from her days on Jakku, and she's learning to wield the Force. Her abilities has never made her overconfident in the battlefield, and she's listening to every word the officers say. Both she and Finn suggest an alternative strategy to seize the palace, that gets reviewed by the officers before being accepted.

Kaydel smiles at Rey. She doesn't hope that the conflict will go on for years and years, but if it comes to it, she thinks that Rey would make a fine officer someday.

Adjustements are made following the very last bits of intel; the main objective being to break out the Ithor Resistance Cell leader from its captivity by the First Order, in an effort to plan the liberation of the planet. It's a high-risk mission, but the best members of the Resistance are on it. And so far, Rey has always managed to make it back alive.

General Organa wishes for the Force to be with them, and everyone tilts their head before her. The soldiers and pilots leave the room. Rey is the last one, and she waves at Kaydel before leaving the room. She's dropped the serious expression from earlier, replacing it with a smile. It's in moments like that that Kaydel remembers how young she actually is, and how much she has already seen. A youth spent scavenging on a hostile planet to survive, before being thrown away from this life, getting captured by the First Order, having to fight off Kylo Ren… Yet under all of that her innocence remained, coming up to the surface when she smiled and her eyes sparkled in happiness. She never had as much of a choice to get involved in the fight between the Resistance and the First Order as Kaydel had, but she didn't complain, looking on the bright side of things instead.

Kaydel waves back, feeling her cheeks flare up on her face as Rey is looking at her. She prays to thirty-three gods of Onderon that it isn't the last time she sees Rey's smile.

 

  
Kaydel tries to hang on to that image for the rest of the day, but her mood invariably worsens as the hours go, like it does everytime Rey is on a off-base mission.

"I don't understand, Kaydel. You like her."

Kaydel doesn't answer, because she has had this conversation with Pamich many times before. She's not going to deny it - she likes her. She's aware of how ridiculous she sounds in her head. Finding Rey beautiful in combat gear, in her Jedi training clothes, in her swimming trunks when they've all got a refresher physical training course, in her kriffing pajamas that one time Rey got sick and Kaydel brought her medicine. Comparing Rey alternatively to royalty and to the purest creature that ever lived in the Galaxy. Being awestruck and feeling blessed just by being able to stand next to her.

She only looks up to look at Pamich, encouraging her to go on, get the conversation over with.

"Ask her out. At the very least, tell her how you feel."

Kaydel sighs.

"Pamich. I'm not telling her how I feel. I already know the answer."

The answer's a shy, maybe embarrassed smile. She will perhaps scratch the back of her neck, and then - sorry but I see you as a friend. A very good friend, perhaps, if she's lucky. Kaydel doesn't think that's even really true. Sure, they hang out together often, sitting for breakfast together when Kaydel has the early shift, or stand next to each other during a briefing. Rey's got a whole entourage around her now, pilots and soldiers and mechanics alike, and they've all got more interesting things to say to her than Kaydel ever will.

Pamich doesn't understand that, because Pamich is a firm believer in interpersonal communication. She also has a boyfriend on Coruscant that she's been with since she's seventeen, so Kaydel thinks she can't really get it, the fear of rejection that's always in her mind. The solace she can find in not knowing for sure how Rey feels about her, when she can pretend that perhaps Rey might like her instead of knowing she doesn't. How long will it last? Probably until Rey finally finds someone she likes in the Resistance, and she's got about half the base to choose from. Soon enough, Kaydel thinks, so why the hurry to break that nice fantasy she's got going?

"What if one day she doesn't come back?" Pamich asks, and Kaydel almost wants to throw her cup of water at her face. Instead, she just gives her her best icy stare. Kriffing unfair, Pamich, she thinks, because that's not something she wants to think about. It's unfuriating, because Pamich's right and both she and Kaydel know it. And yet, despite the fear of losing Rey before she's got a chance to speak up her mind, it still seems to be a pointless endeavor.

"I don't know," Kaydel says, avoiding her friend's gaze. "For her, it's not going to change anything, right?"

Pamich puts her head in her hands. "Kaydel Ko Connix, it's not about her, it's about you. Best case scenario - you girls strike up a romance for the ages to come. Worst case scenario - you cry about Rey on my shoulder, we drink too much in my bunk, we get the hangover of a lifetime and you get over her," she details.

Kaydel can't help but laugh. A romance for the ages to come? What - Rey the Jedi Warrior, the Force's protegee, with Lieutenant Connix the air controller who never leaves the command room?

"I'll bring the alcohol," Kaydel says gloomily, and Pamich shakes her head in despair.

 

  
  
Rey's team come back three days later in the late evening, with no casualties but with two serious injuries among the members of the Pathfinder corps, and with the Ithorian Resistance leader with them. Kaydel is the only controller on duty with Peazy (though Peazy, being a droid, is technically never off-duty). She's thankful for that, because that means she won't have to endure Pamich's stern glances.

The soldiers pull her in their arms, because they're glad that they're alive and back home, and Kaydel is the only being in the room who doesn't outrank them. Rey has come back with a bandage over her left arm and a cut on her cheek, and hell if Kaydel doesn't have to add "fresh from battle Rey" as one of Rey's best looks. Her hair is messy and dirty, and she smells like smoke and sweat, but her eyes sparkle brighter than the stars in the night sky. She's still not off the adrenaline high from the battle as she makes the mission debriefing with everyone else. Kaydel is proud of her, really - it's the first time she's fighting without Luke Skywalker, who's off in a mission of his own to a remote Outer Rim planet searching for ancient temples. It couldn't have gone off better, from what Kaydel is hearing. 

The briefing lasts an hour before General Organa is satisfied and sends everyone back to their quarters for the night. She and her staff accompany the Ithorian to his new quarters, leaving Kaydel and Peazy alone in the command room.

Though not alone; Rey's still there. She waits until the room closes behind General Organa to take a step forward Kaydel, her hands behind her back. She's smiling, looking a bit shy, tracing a circle on the floor with the tip of her left foot.

"Hey, Kaydel, can I talk to you for a bit?" she asks, almost hesitantly, and it startles Kaydel a bit, as that tone is far from usual coming from Rey.

"Sure," she replies anyway, and she gestures towards the empty chair next to Kaydel's station - usually occupied by Pamich. Peazy walks to the other side of the room, checking for any communication coming from the scouting team in sector I-5.

"So, Kaydel," Rey begins after they've both sat down, looking down at her hands as she scratches at the skin around her nails. "Sera Furina has asked me out earlier, before we made the jump above Ithor."

Kaydel breathes out slowly. The mix of relief and pain washes over her, making the corners of her eyes tingle and her throat swell up. That's how it ends, she thinks, and she tries to convince herself it's a good thing. Sera's one of the top soldiers among the Pathfinders; her confidence looks too much like arrogance sometimes, but she's a quick thinker. On top of that, she's also gorgeous, golden skin, black eyes, long, shiny black hair framing a delicate face adorned with the ornate tattoos of her Mirulian clan. Kaydel has fancied her, like a lot of people on base, before Rey stumbled on base.

Now that's a great romance for the ages, Kaydel thinks, as her heart sinks deep into her chest.

"I'm really happy for you, Rey," Kaydel forces herself to say, looking up at Rey.

Rey tangles her fingers together on her lap. "I said no," Rey says, and she looks at Kaydel as if she's expecting her to say she did the right or the wrong thing.

"Why? You don't like her?" Kaydel asks, surprised, because in her mind nobody in her right mind would refuse dating Sera. Except if, of course, you're not into girls at all - and Kaydel wants to laugh, because among all the barriers she's put between her and Rey, this one didn't even cross her mind.

"Yeah, I don't like her," Rey continues. She's looking up at the floor. "I mean, she's nice, but as she was asking me out I was thinking that there was someone else I wish would ask me out instead."

There's a silence only broken by the low rumble of the computers.

"Maybe you should ask this someone else out yourself?" Kaydel suggests, because it's easier to give advice to other people than to apply said advice to yourself.

"I should," Rey says. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. She lowers her head, exhales, and opens her eyes again.

"Kaydel, do you want to go out with me?" she asks, her voice shaking a little.

Kaydel is glad she's already sitting, because otherwise she might have just fallen on the spot. She doesn't know what to say, at first, because she isn't sure she's heard this right, or that she hasn't fallen asleep on her station, and is going to wake up if she moves as much as her little finger. Kaydel doesn't want to wake up, wants to stay there, in that alternate reality where Rey likes her, enough to ask her out, and see where it could lead.

Rey's smile falters, and Kaydel realizes she's not dreaming, that it's happening right here and now and that she's in the middle of blowing it up.

"Yes!" she says, so loud that she startles herself. "I mean, yes, Rey," she says, softer. She marvels at the sight of Rey's face lightening up, her cheeks reddening.

"That's great, great!" Rey replies, and she claps her hands together, standing up from her chair as she can't seem to contain her energy. "What should we do?" she asks, hurriedly.

Kaydel can't help but chuckle, but stops as Rey's smile falters once again. "It's kinda late for a stroll in the forest," she says, looking at her watch, "but maybe we can get a late dinner in the mess hall?"

"That sounds great!" Rey says again, in a tone indicating that just about anything Kaydel could have suggested would have sounded great. Her voice sends butterflies flying near Kaydel's heart, and she relishes in the sensation. She stands up from her chair, and Rey slids her hand in hers.

"Can I do that?" Rey says excitedly.

"Yes," Kaydel says, the contact of Rey's rugged skin against her flooding her mind with happiness. She feels like she's floating, and there's a part of a brain that knows it's true, but it still feels like dreaming. Like a very pleasant dream, she thinks as Rey pulls her by the hand towards the command room's exit.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As usuals, comments and constructive criticism are appreciated on syntax, grammar, story structure, characterization, etc. !


End file.
